Blue Crane Safaris Namibia
- Located In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2010)
- Member Of:
- NTB & TOSCO
- Tour Types:
- Mid-range & luxury tours with set start dates and a fixed itinerary
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $81 to $1,077 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Derek and his team could not have organised or executed our individualised trip any better.
From the very beginning of planning our trip, Derek responded to every little query and followed up very quickly.
We were travelling with three generations and our guides, Sammy and Frank, were willing to go above and beyond in every way to make our trip run smoothly. Every request was met with a smile and special interests in the country were accommodated.
The vehicles were always kept very clean, despite the omnipresent dust. As a nervous passenger, I always felt extremely safe with both Sammy and Frank. They handled all driving conditions very safely.
We all learned so much about Namibia - the history, people, animals, landscape and even the stars - from our knowledgeable guides. Our little ones couldn't believe there was so much sand to play in! The trip ended with seeing a pride of lions enjoying their breakfast. What other guides could organise such a finale??? :)
Blue Crane Safaris are professional and caring from the initial stages of planning to farewelling us at the airport. They could not have provided an any better experience. Namibia is a truly beautiful and interesting country to visit. Thankyou Derek and your team for a wonderful trip.
US
Email Veronika Khariv | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Dependable, friendly, and accommodating!
Highly recommend Blue Crane Safaris Namibia! I contacted them about a year before our planned trip to help book a 2-week self-drive of Namibia. Derek was immediately responsive to my inquiry and we quickly began planning our trip over email. I provided my budget, areas of interest, and lodges of interest, and Derek helped me plan a wonderful trip that spoke to all of my needs. He was very attentive and accommodating to all of my questions and requests. Upon arrival to Namibia, we were greeted by the Blue Crane team who picked us up from the airport. They were extremely warm and friendly, and took the time to explain to us how the car operated and even drove us to a grocery store for a supply pick up! They also put all our lodges in the gps so that we were ready to go! The gps was extremely helpful because of the remote areas we were in. Throughout our trip, Blue Crane constantly checked in with us on whatsapp to ensure we were settling in ok and keeping us up to date on any scheduled tours. There was a surprise sandstorm at the end of our trip that resulted in one of our lodgings cancelling our stay because of damage to their property. Blue Crane quickly stepped in and helped us find an alterative, easing our stress. All of the lodges we stayed in exceeded our expectations as did the excursions we booked. For a self-drive, we feel that Blue Crane went above and beyond to ensure we had an enjoyable trip!
CH
Email Tiffany | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Reliable, professional, well organized
I had a wonderful time on this trip. Loved every part of it. Marcus, my guide, was incredible. Super professional, knowledgeable and funny at the same time. He took really good care of me. And he has eagle eyes. We were lucky to see so many animals. Lucky enough to see the leopard.
As Namibia is a big country, you should be prepared for long drives.
I really appreciate the high standards and reliability of this company. Thanks for this incredible experience.
Email K & R | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Must Do Trip!
My husband and I did a private 11 day tour with Bluecrane Safaris and we just had a marvellous time! We were in communication with Derek for a couple of months with planning etc and the emails were always very prompt and accommodating to our needs and timelines. Sidney was our driver and guide for the 11 days and we just had the best time. He was an excellent driver and always considered his passengers, and we had a great vehicle for the trip. He had great knowledge about Namibia, the people, places and history and shared lots of information with us. There was always lots of chat and jokes in the car for our whole trip. We saw the most amazing scenery, animals and people. We would highly recommend using the services of Bluecrane and we will be recommending this to our friends as a must do trip! Thanks Sidney and Derek - you made it a most memorable holiday and one of our best!
SG
Email Wan | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Caring, Reliable, Friendly and Professional
We had an amazing 19days self drive trip in Namibia. Whole trip was very well planned and organised. Derek and his team provided notes from the route to take , how long the journey/ drive would take and any stops along the way which are worth dropping by. They tracked our journey to ensure our safety and are always on hand to response to any queries we had along the way as well giving. We would definitely be using Blue Safari again and would recommend Derek and his team to anyone who is planning a trip to the wilderness
Varied highlights of Namibia
We booked this tour last minute. Blue Crane Safaris was great, from the communication to the planning to arrival and departure. And the pricing was fair. I can't say enough great things about John, our tour guide. He went out of his way to check that we were enjoying our safari. He was knowledgeable, professional, fun, and friendly. While some unexpected, minor complications arose out of his control, he was quick and resourceful to get us back on track. The food was repetitive at times, and this has more to do with the lodges than Blue Crane. In late January/early February (wet season) the animals are apparently not as visible, but we still got to see many. This safari was an excellent way to see the highlights of Namibia with little planning on our part. I wish we had more time to spend at the lodges just relaxing. Highly recommended!
Email David Findley | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
First time trip to Namibia
We were a party of two couples travelling to Namibia for the first time and wanted to take a 19-day self-drive trip throughout Namibia utilising a number of lodges along the journey. After a lot of research and good references, we selected BLUE CRANE SAFARIS. They are a small independent company based based in the capital, Windhoek. We initially interacted with their owner, Derek James who was always informative and responsive to our questions, enabling us to plan an itinerary and route which would meet our budget and moreover provide a wide impression of this stunning country along with its incredible wildlife.
The overall service and support of BLUE CRANE was superb.... we were met at the airport and spent our first evening in Windhoek, where we met the team including Jamie, Petrina and Eperfrans. Jamie diligently went over the itinerary and logistics of our new adventure, all very efficient and reassuring before we went to the vehicle. We used a Toyota HILUX 4x4 vehicle with two spare tyres. Eperfrans went over the spare removal and replacement plus showed us the jack operations as well as the air pressure (required for inflating/deflating tyres on occasion dependant upon terrain). Jamie explained the vehicle was fitted with a tracking device so that they could see where we were on our journey. Must admit that provides a level of reassurance as the country is pretty large and unpopulated in places so it was nice to know they were keeping an eye on us, so to speak. Jamie had also preloaded all of our lodges into the Garmin SatNav...
We also had both Jamie and Dereks numbers and were connected with them on WhatsApp. Quite a useful feature in hindsight and we interacted with them on occasions when we needed to for advice or pre-booking of forthcoming events which they did without issue and were extremely efficient. Their goal was definitely to ensure we had a great holiday!
At the end of the trip we finally got to meet Derek in person, whowanted to know our highlights and of course any recommendations or improvements we could suggest. Our party all agreed that we were hugely impressed with them and thanked them all. A great team and I would hugely recommend them. We are actually already planning a return to Africa next year and working with BLUE CRANE to visit Botswana, another territory that they also cover....
Thanks again to Derek and his team for helping us have one of the most enjoyable and memorable holidays
David & Cheng
Email John Hensher | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Derek was extremely helpful, knowledgeable and very easy to deal with.
After visiting 16 game park reserves over the years in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanzania we were looking for a different experience in Africa.
After searching the web, we came across Blue Crane Safaris which offered a 15-day safari tour of Namibia which suited us right down to the ground especially as it was more of an adventure holiday for both of us in a different environment for game viewing, fantastic scenery and culture.
Derek from Blue Crane Safaris was extremely helpful in regard to all of our arrangements. We were very lucky to have been just ourselves and the guide/driver (Me-Gusto) on the trip. Me-Gusto was an extremely knowledgeable young man in every aspect of the history of Namibia, game, birds, flora and fauna, geology and culture as he is very proud of his country. Me-Gusto made our trip a wonderful and truly memorable one, it was such an emotional time when we had to say goodbye as he has become a very special friend to us both.
Me-Gusto was brilliant in looking after my wife as she suffers from major food allergies. He made sure all the meals on the trip were safe for her to eat which took away from us both the worry we might have had. The accommodation was excellent and Me-Gusto’s driving was exemplary. We hope to return in the near future to see the rest of Namibia’s wonderful countryside with Me-Gusto.
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Email Mandy K | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
A top-notch tour operator
I recommend Blue Crane Safaris, Namibia without reservation. Derek and his staff were excellent from beginning to end.
They were knowledgeable, responsive and caring.
At the beginning, to organize the tour, I emailed back and forth with Derek. His responses were always prompt and informative. I found him very easy to work with.
When we had to make a minor change to the itinerary mid-trip Derek and Jamie at the office handled it seamlessly. The office was always contactable and responsive.
Ours was a two part trip. A week of self-drive (for myself and my husband) followed by a two and a half week guided tour ( mainly for my friend and me, two middle aged women, with my husband joining us in the last few days)
Both were very well organized and very well supported.
The self-drive vehicle was equipped with everything needed and was in very good condition. The GPS devise was preset with all the needed driving directions. We felt very comfortable driving on our own.
John was our guide for the second leg of the trip. He was a knowledgeable, caring guide. Also fun.
He made sure we had the best trip. We did.
DE
Email Timo | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
v ery good organized and operated
Blue Crane Safaris organized me a private tailored tour about for two weeks and managed to give me a very good total image of Namibia and its people. Everything worked as I had expected. The tour was value of the money I paid. My guide/driver had a very wide knowledge of history of the country, as well as of all animals, plants etc, even over the look of night sky and stars. At the same time he was always ready to assist me if I needed any help and ready to answer all my questions. I had very enjoyable days on the tour of about 4500 km. The car was in a goog condition and his drive skills were excellent. If I am ever going to make a new tour in Namibia, I'll surely contact again Blue Crane Safaris.